Taking Care of Dipper
by President ORB
Summary: PARAPINES - Dipper gets sick, and it's up to Mabel and Norman to nurse him back to help! Please R&R! Rated for fluffiness!
1. Chapter 1

**Taking Care of** **Dipper** – Chapter 1

**This is pretty stupid, but feel free to read it anyway! Haha...**

**I don't own any Paranorman or Gravity Falls characters. Please enjoy some Sick!Dipper chapters.**

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Mabel took another bite of her cereal, crunching and humming a tune Norman didn't recognize. He just sighed; the morning seemed to be dragging on slower than usual. He poked his spoon in his cereal, but he didn't really feel hungry.

Mabel suddenly stopped humming, and gasped,

"WHERE'S DIPPER?"

Norman looked up, only just realizing she was right. Dipper wasn't with them. He saw Dipper stirring when him and Mabel had woken up, so why wasn't he downstairs already?

"S-should we go check on him?" he asked, his voice still shaky.

Before he had even finished his quiet words, Mabel was out of her seat and on her way to the attic. He quickly followed her, definitely just as curious as to what Dipper was up to as Mabel.

When he reached the attic door, he heard Mabel gasp again, but he could somehow tell that something was wrong as he lifted it up.

Dipper was still in bed, but sitting up, his eyes closed. Norman rushed up next to him as Dipper sniffled, rubbing his ridiculously-red nose.

He was sick. How had he not noticed this morning? He turned to Mabel, wondering what they should do.

Mabel was quick to play doctor, feeling Dipper's face enthusiastically. Dipper pushed her hand away before sneezing again, this time more violently. She grimaced and said, mostly to herself, that he was going to need some medicine, and stat.

With that, Mabel was running back downstairs again. Norman watched her go, contemplating following her again, but she'd probably be back soon. He wouldn't be of much help anyway, not knowing where anything was.

He hastily sat down next to Dipper,

"Uhh, d-do you need anything, Dipper?" he asked, not sure what to say.

Dipper just pulled the blanket around his shoulders tighter, and shook his head, sniffling again. Norman frowned. Dipper had been sniffling some last night. Why hadn't he realized that? If he was more observant, Dipper would probably be doing so much better already. But, instead, Norman was just sitting there, for no reason, doing absolutely nothing to help because there was nothing he could do.

There was a rustling downstairs, and Mabel came back upstairs, empty-handed.

"Where's the medicine?" Norman asked. Wasn't that why she went down there?

She pouted,

"There isn't any!" she exclaimed, "I mean, there's SOME, but it's all 'old people' stuff and it's all expired anyway!"

Norman glanced over at Dipper, who had started shivering, and had pulled the blanket up again, so now you couldn't see anything but his messy, brown hair. Norman stood up, turning back to Mabel,

"Well, what do we do? Go buy some?"

Mabel grinned,

"Yes! We go buy some!" she replied, and then turned to her brother, "Dipper, you stay here while we run out and—"

"Noooo," Dipper whined, throwing the blanket down, "I'll just….go wif you guys."

Mabel put her hands on her hips and glared at her brother,

"Dippy," she stared him down menacingly, "You are going to stay here and you're gonna like it! Now, get some sleep or something! The store isn't that far away, and we'll be back in no time! Okay?"

Dipper just sneezed again, but Mabel took that as an answer. She grabbed Norman's hand with a smile and led him to the door.

"W-wait!" Norman stopped her. He turned back to Dipper, who was watching them both with what looked like a mix of disdain and sadness. He bit his lip, and unzipped his jacket, taking it off. He walked over, and handed it to Dipper, who just looked at it blankly.

"Take it. Until we get back."

Dipper glanced up at him,

"Why?" he asked coldly, but then he shivered and frowned. He grabbed it, pulling it over his arms. He went to zip it up, but sneezed again, right into his hands. Norman grimaced, but leaned down to zip it for him.

"We'll be back soon, Dipper. Just try to lay down, okay?" he told him gently. Dipper stayed quiet, just tiredly staring at him. Norman hovered for a moment, but then walked back over to Mabel and descended the stairs with her.

"What was that about?" Mabel asked as they walked outside. Norman glanced over at her, but just shrugged in response. He was observant enough to notice Dipper was shivering. And his jacket was made of fleece because it's always so cold in Blithe Hollow. He just assumed it would help.

Mabel just skipped along until they finally reached a street. Norman followed behind her as closely as possible. He knew how to get to the store, so at least he was of some use today, but it didn't really matter if Mabel was leading…

"Norman?"

Norman looked up,

"Huh? What?" he asked, realizing Mabel was looking at him expectantly.

"I SAID, do you think we should get Dipper cold syrup, or should we get him some fever stuff, too?" she asked, giving him the same look again.

Norman blinked,

"Uhh," he started, "W-was he—did he have a fever?"

Mabel frowned,

"Well, I dunno! But his face was hot, so maybe! What if he has something else wrong, but we didn't check?! HE COULD BE DYING, NORMAN!"

Norman pulled on her sleeve, and she stopped and stared at him. Without a word, she took a deep breath, very deep, and put her hands up.

"You're right. Dipper's fine. It's just a cold. So… cold syrup. That works."

And with that, she continued along the sidewalk like nothing had even happened.

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**Stay tuned for the next chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Taking Care of Dipper** - Chapter 2

**Wow, you actually kept reading. Thanks for that! **

**Anyway, I don't own rights to anything. Not Paranorman, nor Gravity Falls. Sorry.**

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Norman sighed as the two walked along the medicine aisle in silence. The bottles were marked with tiny text, so they basically had to pick up every single bottle to figure out what it was used for. Norman picked up what he guessed was the fiftieth bottle so far, looking it over, but it still didn't look like cold syrup. It had to be here somewhere, though, so they continued to look. He scanned the bottles, trying to focus on the labels without having to pick up another fifty bottles.

"Hey, Norman, I was wondering…" Mabel started, picking up a bottle on the opposite shelf and looking it over, "Why'd you give Dipper your jacket?"

Norman didn't respond, too focused on trying to read the label of an incredibly tiny bottle. Why was the text so small on these things? How can old people even read this stuff?

Mabel glanced back at him when she didn't receive an answer. She tried again,

"You must…care about Dipper a lot, right?" she asked. Norman just placed the bottle back on the shelf, slightly nodding, but not really listening.

He finally picked yet another bottle, only to realize it was some generic form of ibuprofen. Was that why the text was so small? Because these were all generic brands? He flipped the bottle upside-down, but the stamp on the bottom said that the medicine in the bottle should have expired back in 1992. He looked down the entire aisle. Were ALL of these expired? Did people in this crazy town think medicine didn't have an expiration date or something? No wonder there's so many ghosts in this place…

He turned around and started looking at the same shelf as Mabel.

She watched him for a moment before realizing that he obviously wasn't paying any attention to her.

"So, I'm free to assume, you know, that you like Dipper, right?" she asked nonchalantly. Norman picked up another bottle, nodding absent-mindedly. It looked like some sort of fever reducer. The cold medicine should be here somewhere…

Norman nearly jumped a foot in the air and the bottle in his hand crashed to the floor as a high-pitched squeal rung out before Mabel pummeled him with a big bear hug suddenly.

"Uhh…" he managed to get out, glancing down at Mabel's extremely happy face.

"I knew it!" she smiled, "I knew it! I just knew it!" she said, still hugging him tightly.

"Uhm, I don't—" Norman tried to pull away, but Mabel quickly stepped back.

"So, how long? Oh, I knew you liked him, but I wasn't sure, 'cause you know how guys can sometimes act like they're just friends when it's not like that. Or, I don't know, that's how it is on TV! Was it love at first sight? Dipper isn't exactly the cutest guy, or anything, but ya gotta tell me the DEETS!"

Mabel continued to ramble on as Norman slowly realized that he REALLY should have listened to what she was asking before. Was she talking about Dipper? Did he say he liked him? No, he didn't, he just nodded! Oh, great, how was he supposed to explain this…?

"M-mabel, I don't, uhh—" he stammered, holding his hands up defensively.

Mabel instantly stopped as Norman struggled to explain. She just stared at him expectantly, willing him with her eyes to continue.

He took a deep breath and told her bluntly,

"I don't like Dipper. Okay?"

Mabel didn't move, she just narrowed her eyes, as though analyzing his words with some imaginary lie-detector. Norman nervously knelt down to pick up the dropped bottle off the floor and placed it back on the shelf.

After a moment, Mabel smiled innocently, asking,

"Well…why not?"

If Norman had still been holding the bottle, he was sure he would have dropped it again. He opened his mouth to respond, but, of course, nothing came out.

What was with these questions? He looked away, trying to think of how he could possibly answer. He was smart enough to know that there were going to consequences to answering this incorrectly, but he also knew that Mabel was fishing for something specific….

"Oh, hey, look!" Mabel had looked over and picked up a bottle. Cold syrup.

"Well, that was easy!" she exclaimed and quickly skipped towards the cashier at the front of the store. Norman just stood there. How did Dipper manage being around Mabel all the time? She was always so confusing like this.

"Norman, come on!" she shouted back to him. He turned around, and started walking towards the register, as well.

How on earth would he have even answered that? Of course, he liked Dipper, but there was no reason to let on that it was any more than how Dipper felt about him. Just being friends was good enough for him, right?

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**Stay tuned for more!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Taking Care of Dipper** - Chapter 3

**I don't own anything from Paranorman or Gravity Falls. :/**

**This chapter is kind of short. Sorry.**

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The walk home was much less quiet than the walk to the store. Mabel held the tiny bag in her hand as she swayed her arms back and forth, occasionally turning around and walking backwards to talk to Norman.

"Just 'cause I let you off the hook 'cause my brother could be, like, dying, doesn't mean you don't still have to answer the question!" she told him, "I expect an answer. Or maybe if you just tell Dipper instead. I could accept that. So, either of those, and we're even."

Even? She was asking for information he wasn't even sure he had. He didn't give that sort of thing enough thought yet. No, not at all. It's not like he was ever planning to, either.

When they finally reached the Shack again, Mabel quickly rushed inside, but Norman hesitated before opening the door. He followed Mabel inside, only to find her scolding her brother for being downstairs and watching TV instead of sleeping. He didn't have any blanket this time, just Norman's jacket, and he was resting his head on the armrest on the couch.

He stood there as Mabel continued to talk on and on about how she told him to sleep, and Dipper replied that she had merely suggested it. Their conversation was getting nowhere, so he stepped in, stating,  
"We should, uhm, probably give him the medicine now…"

Mabel dramatically opened the little bag and rushed into the kitchen before rushing back again with a spoon in hand. Norman felt that overwhelming feeling of uselessness wash over him, and he looked around the room, trying to find something to do. He looked back at Dipper, who was making a face at the smell of the medicine Mabel was trying to make him take. When he noticed Dipper shiver, just like earlier, he instantly made his way up to the attic. He could be helpful in getting him a blanket, right?

He grabbed the one on Dipper's bed, quickly folding it over in his hands and tucking it under his arm as he made his way back downstairs.

"Now, it says it might make you drowsy, so you BETTER SLEEP THIS TIME!" Mabel told her brother, putting the cap back on the medicine bottle. Norman was about to hand the blanket to Mabel when she turned to him, asking him to do it so she could go put the medicine away and check again for anything else that might help.

Norman turned to Dipper who gave him a tired stare identical to before. He awkwardly handed the folded up blanket to him, not sure if it would be of any help, and Dipper simply took it from him and set it next to him on the couch.

"Uhm," he started, "Y-you seem kind of cold. You should probably—"

"I'm fine," Dipper remarked, and sniffled. He leaned back into the couch.

"Y-you know, uhm, Mabel's right. Uhh, if you try to sleep, you'll probably feel better," Norman told him, walking over to the other side of the couch and sitting down next to him. Dipper eyed him, and then sighed,

"I'm not tired, Norman. I wanna go DO somefing, not just sit here and be…" He paused and sneezed again, "…and be sick," he finished lamely.

Norman frowned. He understood how Dipper felt, but being stubborn about it wasn't going to help anyone.

"I mean, if I wasn't bored, it'd be fine…" Dipper yawned and sighed again, "but dere's not even anyfing good on TV."

He turned to see that the TV was playing some old television show. He figured he had a point. Whenever Norman would get sick back home, he'd prefer to just stay home all day and watch the Monster Movie channel. They always played nonstop marathons of all his favorites, but he guessed they didn't really have that here.

He turned back to Dipper, only to notice he had closed his eyes. For a moment, everything seemed unusually quiet, and he just stared at him. And then Dipper's eyes fluttered back open and he immediately turned back to the television screen. What was that all about? Norman sighed to himself. He was obviously just really worried about Dipper, right? That was all this was; he was concerned for his friend. Period.

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By the time Dipper finally fell asleep, Norman carefully unfolded his blanket to place it over him. Mabel walked in, with a big smile on her face, and whispered,

"Do you wanna continue being cute together, or do ya want me to take over?"

Norman flushed. He glanced at Dipper, looking mildly uncomfortable sitting up like that, and then looked back at Mabel. If he let Mabel take his place, he'd have absolutely nothing to do, and that feeling of being a complete waste of space was bound to return in no time. But if he stayed and made sure Dipper was okay, Mabel would likely tease him relentlessly about it for the next few days, if not even longer. But at least Mabel wouldn't be bored out of her mind if he stayed put…

"N-no," he finally told her, his voice shaky, "I can… I mean, I'll take care of him. He's—uhh, I mean, I—"

"I gotcha!" Mabel told him with a wink, "Just let me know if he wakes up, and I'll make him some soup to eat."

And with that, she was gone, off to probably do God-knows-what. He nearly jumped when he felt a weight on his shoulder. He turned his head, only to see that Dipper had fallen over. He turned, trying to angle him to a more comfortable position without actually waking him up. He let Dipper's head fall in his lap, and readjusted his blanket, just looking down at his sleeping face.

_~snap~_

Norman looked up for a second, swearing he heard a noise, but just shrugged it off and turned his attention to the TV in front of him.

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**Stay tuned for even MORE!**


	4. Chapter 4

Taking Care of Dipper - Chapter 4

**(gawd I forgot to post this and it's super short and ends abruptly because I walked away from it for more than a day and completely lost the plot. Sorry about this, but it didn't feel right to just NOT post the ending, right?)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Paranorman characters or Gravity Falls characters. Whoo.**

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It took quite a few minutes before he realized that he had been playing with Dipper's hair. During a commercial about some clothes store, he had looked down, only to notice what he had been doing. He quickly moved his hand to the back of his neck and tried to keep it there while he let the color leave his face again. Dipper had been sleeping silently for almost an hour now. Mabel had only checked on them about three times so far, though he was becoming convinced that wasn't completely the case as he kept hearing noises coming from the kitchen that sounded eerily similar to the snapshot of a camera.

"Ughh."

Norman glanced back down again, only to see Dipper moving to rub his eyes. He sat up slowly, and looked over at Norman. His hair was sticking up ridiculously on one side, and Norman stifled a laugh at the sight.

Without warning, Mabel rushed into the room, hugging her brother, asking if he felt better. Dipper merely groaned, rubbing at his now dry nose. She placed her palm on his forehead again, only to frown in response. She shot a worried glance at Norman before running back into the kitchen. There was a fumbling of silverware and she was back again with more medicine.

Dipper seemed angry,

"No," he muttered, his voice unusually dry, "Just…_no_. No more."

Mabel huffed,

"You won't get any better by being stubborn."

Dipper shot a desperate look at Norman, but he just nodded in agreement. Dipper rolled his eyes, which just made him look hilarious when added to his disheveled appearance.

"Fine, fine…" he took the medicine with a disgusting grimace and gulp.

"Medicine is, like, the worst invention ever, I swear."

Dipper retreated to Norman's lap without a second thought, and Mabel snuck a quick smirk before leaving them alone again.


End file.
